Gymnastics hosts top contender Yale

A week after the Penn gymnastics team finished a disappointing sixth out of six at the George Washington Invitational, the Quakers head into their homecoming meet this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Hutchinson Gymnasium against Yale, hoping that they have regained enough confidence to top their chief league rival. A week ago Penn was devastated by four falls on the opening event, the balance beam and never regained its confidence. An even worse loss was that of junior Lizzie Jacobson, who tore her ACL and will be out for the season. Jacobson, one of the best floor exercise performers for the Quakers (1-0, 1-0), is expected to be replaced in the routine by freshman Christy Paino. "The injury really got everybody down," senior co-captain Molly Sullivan said. "I think she'll be at the meet supporting us and cheering for us Saturday, and that will be great to see." Penn lost at Yale (2-1, 0-0 Ivy League) last year 184.45-183.95 despite a record total of 46.875 on the vault. The Quakers were up two points going into the final balance beam routines, when they had costly falls, which were attributed to fatigue. This year's Yale team is ranked 10th in Region Five with a 181.300 average, compared to Penn's eighth-ranked 184.687. The number for the Elis is somewhat deceiving since they are coming off a 184.25 in a loss to Vermont, which would indicate that they have undergone significant improvement in their first few weeks. In the Vermont meet, the Elis were led by sophomore Katie Kleiner, who scored a 37.80 in the all-around, and sophomore Lisa Crowley, who won the floor exercise with a 9.525. "Since I've been here, Yale has been the most competitive Ivy team," Sullivan said. "I don't think anything's going to be different on Saturday." Either the Quakers or Elis have won every Ivy Classic title since 1991. If Penn's lopsided opening win over Cornell is any indication, that streak will continue this year. Penn coach Tom Kovic decided to implement a different training strategy for this week's practices in reaction to the injuries and fatigue which have plagued the Quakers. Penn has had lighter workouts with fewer routines being performed in order to focus on particular skills. "We're a little beat up," Kovic said. "If we were to stick to the training plan we would have had more injuries. Because everyone was able to build a strong muscle base, we were able to cut back intensity by 25 percent to give bodies a chance to heal." Senior co-captain Shannon Stafford is still recovering from her own ACL injury suffered last year and will not compete on Saturday. She is expected to be back next weekend at Brown. It is imperative that the Quakers rediscover success on the balance beam if they hope to improve their regional ranking, which is currently two spots behind the final qualifying position for the postseason tournament. The beam is normally considered Penn's strongest event, but it has been the site of many falls this year. The Quakers blame many of those falls on nerves which were prevalent among the many talented teams and numerous spectators at George Washington. Now in its third meet of the year and back at home, Penn expects to be much more relaxed. A win against Yale would end Penn's current frustrations and take some of the pain out of the injuries. It would also allow the Quakers to regain bragging rights for a year Kovic terms, "a true, true rivalry."